


Deleted Scenes from Eclipsing Daylight

by EarthboundJedi



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Deleted Scenes, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 03:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17236424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarthboundJedi/pseuds/EarthboundJedi
Summary: Some of these have been posted on mytumblr, some not. Figured it was about time I actually posted them together in one space.These can be read on their own (I mean, I'm not your parental unit. You can do what you want), but they'll make a lot more sense if you've read up to the corresponding chapter(s) inEclipsing Daylight.





	1. From Ch.23 - A Chat at the Cafe

Barbara sat at her usual table outside the restaurant in downtown Arcadia, enjoying the warm sunshine that the end of summer brings. She took a sip of her tea as Ophelia Nuñez sat down across from her.

“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, Councilwoman Nuñez,” Barbara began.

“Please, just call me Ophelia,” she stated, flagging down the waiter to order a cappuccino. “After all, our children are… actually,  _ are  _ they dating? Claire’s never really said.”

“Jim hasn’t, either,” Barbara chuckled.

“How is your son, by the way? I heard he had been hospitalized due to a rare disease. Surely that’s been quite the ordeal, for the both of you.”

“He’s… getting better.” Barbara pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “That’s sort of what I wanted to talk to you about, actually.”

“Really? You wanted to talk to me? Last I checked, you’re the doctor. Unless…” she gasped, “as a single mother, are you struggling to balance taking care of your son and keeping up with the demands of your occupation?” She whipped out her phone in a flurry of activity. “I can have the mayor on the phone in a minute, and we can get a petition going around to -”

“Ophelia, stop,” Barbara reached across the table, pushing the council woman’s phone down. “It’s not that. At all. It's…” she sighed before continuing, “Physically, Jim is recovering just fine. Slowly, but fine. Mentally, though, he's… well, he’s developed a lot of anxiety, among other things, since going through all of this. He gets really bad nightmares and panic attacks, so he’s been having a lot of trouble sleeping.”

“So… I’m assuming you’re going to take him to a specialist or something?” Ophelia raised an eyebrow at her, her face painted with the universal expression for  _ ‘good God, woman, why are you telling me all this?’ _

“Not exactly. That's… where Claire comes in.”

“Claire?”

“She's…” Barbara took a moment to collect her words, wanting to make sure they came out right. “Claire helps Jim calm down when he’s having an episode. And simply having her around seems to be helping with Jim’s nightmares.”

“Nightmares…” Ophelia frowned, taking a sip of her coffee. Then her eyes widened. “Wait, are you saying my daughter has been sleeping with your son?!” she sputtered, loud enough to draw the gaze of the other restaurant goers.

“Well, yes, but not like  _ that _ !” Barbara insisted in a hushed tone, trying not to make a scene. “Nothing inappropriate, I swear!”

“Inappropriate? I find out my daughter has been sneaking out of the house to sleep with a boy, and nothing about that is  _ inappropriate _ ?”

Barbara took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. This was  _ not  _ going well. “Ophelia. I  _ promise _ , from one mother to another, that our children haven’t been engaging in any untoward activities. Not that we’d really have the power to stop them…”

Claire’s mom looked like she was about to burst a vein in her forehead.

“Anyway,” Barbara hastily continued, “I wanted to let you know that I appreciate what your daughter is doing for my Jim, so very much. It’s been painful to watch him become so broken because of all of this, and there’s been so little I can do, and Claire…” her words momentarily got caught in her throat, moisture gathering in the corners of her eyes, “Claire has been so supportive and helpful, and I can’t describe how grateful I am because of that. The least I could do was let you know what she’s been up to. So that you don’t have to worry.”

Ophelia’s expression softened as she sighed, “Well… If that’s  _ all  _ they’re doing…”

Barbara had to bite her tongue - _ no, that’s not all they’re doing, they’re fighting trolls and goblins and monsters but if I tell you that right now you’re going to think I’m bat-shit crazy. _

That would have to be a conversation for another day.

Ophelia took another sip of coffee, “I’ll have to figure out how to tell my husband, of course. Not sure how he’ll take the news.”

“So… does that mean we’re good?”

“Yes, I believe so. I don’t exactly approve, but… well, there are worse things Claire could be doing with her time.”

_ You have no idea. _

Both women were startled when their cellphones buzzed within seconds of each other. Barbara glanced down at her screen, seeing that she’d gotten a message from Jim. Before she could open it, Ophelia announced, “Claire just asked me if it’s okay to go to the beach after school today. Apparently a bunch of kids from their class are planning to go and camp overnight.”

Barbara peered at her screen. “Jim, too.” She looked back up, noticing the wheels already turning in Ophelia’s head. “Oh, come on, they’re teenagers! Let them have a little fun! We were that age once, too, remember?”

“I do. And that’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Ophelia grimaced.


	2. From Ch.23 - In-Tent Conversation

Claire straightened up and wiped her brow after securing the last corner of the tent. “Done!” she announced, taking a peek inside the tent. “You okay in there, TP?”

“Um, not exactly…” Laying in the middle of the tent, somehow Toby had gotten thoroughly tangled up in some rope.

“How did you -? You weren’t even supposed to be  _ using _ rope!” Claire laughed.

“Could you just help me out of this?  _ Please? _ ” he pleaded. She knelt down beside him and quickly helped him get untangled. “Thanks,” he sighed as he got to his feet. “Ugh, camping. So overrated.”

“Hey now, me and  _ papá _ always had a blast camping when I was a little kid!”

“Yeah, uh… camping isn't exactly Nana's thing.”

“Oh. Right,” Claire grimaced. “Shoot, TP, I -”

“It's cool. I mean, it's been me and Nana for a while now, so… yeah.”

Claire busied herself with coiling up the rope, waiting until she'd put it away before hesitantly asking, “Do… do you ever miss them? Your parents, I mean.”

“Well, yeah,” he admitted, shoving his hands into the pockets of his swim trunks. “Every now and then. But Nana's been taking care of me for a while, now, so… I dunno. It doesn't bother me quite as much anymore, I guess.”

“Do you remember anything about them?”

With a sad smile, Toby sat down on the floor of the tent and motioned for Claire to join him. After she sat down, he began, “To be honest, I don't really remember much about my parents. I was super young, I think only two, when Nana took me in. You see, my parents won the lottery. It wasn't, like, a billion dollars or anything, but it was enough.” He shifted a little and rubbed his knees with his hands. “So to celebrate, they went on a cruise together around the world. There… was a storm. They never made it back.”

“I'm so sorry, TP,” Claire sympathized, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I didn't mean to -”

“It's fine. Nana says they're always watching over me. So sometimes, when good things happen, I like to think it's because of them,” he exchanged a heartfelt smile with Claire.

“So… are you okay?” she asked.

“Well I'm not being strangled by a piece of rope anymore, so yeah. I'm okay.”

“That's not what I meant.”

Toby quirked an eyebrow at her, “Um, so what  _ did _ you mean?”

Claire sighed and thoughtfully chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Being here. At the beach. Near the ocean. Since your parents… well. You know.”

“Ah,” he breathed. “Well, I actually really like the beach. Nana does, too,” he grinned. “The sun, the sand, the water… it's all pretty great. Boats, though,  _ those _ are a different story,” Toby shuddered slightly. “And thunderstorms. Not a fan of those, either.”

“Oh. Makes sense…” she trailed off, absentmindedly picking at the cuticles on her fingers. “Um, Toby?”

“Yeah?”

Suddenly feeling very small, Claire tried to take a steadying breath, “I… I'm, uh…”

Toby scooted closer so that he could wrap an arm around her shoulders. “Still not  _ simpatico _ with water?” he softly inquired.

She nodded, biting her lower lip. “It's been  _ months  _ now, but… it's just…”

“Hey, it's okay,” he murmured, pulling her in for a hug. “I’m pretty sure 'almost drowning twenty-thousand leagues under the sea’ classifies as a traumatic experience. Those things take a long time to go away. Sometimes they never do.”

“I… I know.”

“Have you told Jim yet?”

She shook her head. “He's got enough to deal with right now. I don't want to burden him with my silly fear of water.”

“Okay, first?  _ It's not silly. _ Second?” he looked at her flatly, “ _ Bullshit _ . You’ve been helping him through his PTSD nightmares, or whatever they are, all week. If he can't be supportive of  _ your  _ needs, I'll slap him six ways to Sunday myself.”

“Toby -”

“I'm serious. Please. Talk to him.”

“I will,” she sighed, “if it ever comes up.”

“Well, considering we're about to meet up with him  _ on the beach _ …”

“I know,” she sighed and rubbed her arms. “Though I'm hoping the beach will be better. 'Cause it's all wide open, you know?”

“Mm, got it. Small spaces been freaking you out, too?”

“I've been avoiding elevators like the plague for, like, a couple months now.”

Toby's eyes widened in concern, “That is a  _ horrible _ existence, Claire. God, if I couldn't go on elevators…” then he glanced around them, his eyes somehow widening even more. “ _ Shit _ , are you okay being in this tent?”

Claire smiled at him, “Yeah, it's perfectly fine. It's really only stuff that resembles a metal cargo container that puts me on edge.” 

“So no boating excursions for either one of us anytime soon, huh?” Toby winked.

“Guess not,” Claire half-shuddered, half-giggled. She thoughtfully pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear before continuing, “But that's why I'm kind of hopeful about the beach. I think it might be the first step to finally coming to terms with… all this.”

Toby gave her a quick side-hug and got to his feet, offering a hand out to Claire to help her up. “Well, feeling up to taking that first step? If we leave Jim alone for too much longer he's probably gonna have a nervous breakdown or something.”

Claire smiled a little as she stood up, “If he's not  _ already _ having a nervous breakdown.”

“True.” As they exited the tent, Toby gave Claire one more sideways glance. “But  _ promise _ me you'll tell Jim.”

“I… I will. But only if the beach freaks me out.”

“I mean, it might be kind of late by then…”

She gave him a playful jab with her elbow. “Whatever. Come on, Jim’s waiting.”


	3. From Ch.28 - Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little Barbmura moment - hoping to do more in the future, because I freakin' love this pairing

“Honestly, this is completely unnecessary.”

“Nonsense,” Barbara tutted, putting the finishing touches on Nomura’s sling. “Your x-rays showed a hairline fracture in your ulna.”

“And you know as well as I do that I’ll be fine in just a few more hours,” Nomura rolled her eyes.

“The perks of your ‘unique anatomy’, I _know_.” One corner of Barbara’s mouth twitched upward in a smile, the first Nomura had seen all night, “You’ve only mentioned it, like, nine times since we got here.”

“Only nine? I could have sworn I’d made it an even ten.”

Barbara’s half-smile turned into a full smile as she sat down on one of the stools in the small examination room. “You know, I’d really like to know more about your accelerated healing abilities someday. Maybe there’s something to it that can be applied to human medicine.”

“Barb. It’s _magic._ Not science.”

“I’m not convinced they’re entirely separate,” she remarked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well then, perhaps we need to have a discussion about it over coffee sometime.”

“Yes, I think we do.”

“Excellent,” Nomura smirked, "it’s a date, then.”

Barbara’s face immediately grew flushed. “Oh! I, uh…”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to -”

“No! No, it’s… fine. Really. It’s just… with everything going on with Jim…” she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Nomura got up and pulled a stool over next to the doctor, awkwardly placing her un-slinged hand on her shoulder. “He’ll be fine. I'm sure he'll wake up soon.”

“It's already been eight hours. What if -?”

“He'll wake up,” she interrupted. “He's a strong kid. And extremely determined.”

“I know,” Barbara whispered. “But he can’t keep this up forever. Especially if he doesn’t take time to heal...”

Nomura’s grip on her shoulder grew stronger - a comforting sort of strong, but laced with a sense of urgency. Barbara turned her head to meet the strange woman’s sobering expression: eyebrows furrowed, a shadow darkening most of her facial features despite the early morning sun beginning to stream through the window. “Time is no longer a luxury we can count on. Whatever Gunmar’s planning, it could happen any minute now. We’re lucky to have had any time at all over the past week.”

Barbara looked away as she felt a heaviness settle in her heart. “I know,” she muttered softly. “But I can’t seem to shake the feeling that, any minute now, I’m going to lose my son again.”

Nomura sighed and took Barbara’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I mean, if the world ends, we all sort of lose everything.”

Barbara snorted a little at what she assumed was an attempt at humor, “Oddly enough, _that’s_ not what I’m concerned about. I’m worried Jim is going to do something reckless. Or something… _heroic_.”

“Knowing him, probably both.”

“And _that_ terrifies me most of all.”


End file.
